5/15/11 12:54 PM EDT

The Republican National Committee's executive committee is set tomorrow to consider a plan to share its treasured voter file with a new, outside organization, bringing into the open a furious dispute between prominent operatives eager to modernize the operation and party figures who fear the move would represent a devastating blow to the weakened party structure.

The proposal – backed by Speaker John Boehner’s top aide Barry Jackson and prominent Republican operatives include Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, as well as RNC chief-of-staff Jeff Larson – would create a new organization, described by two sources as a “trust,” which would hold and improve the party’s list of voters. The improved list would be a resource for the powerful new outside groups like American Crossroads, as well as ideological party allies.

The plan is modeled in part on the Democratic Party's operation, in which a private company led by former Clinton aide Harold Ickes, Catalist, runs a high-tech voter file used by most Democratic groups, though the Democratic Party also maintains its own file.

"It's the same model as the Democrats,” said a Republican familiar with the plan. The new trust could also save money for the cash-strapped RNC.

Stuart Rothenberg first reported on the debate in March, but two sources said an RNC committee dedicated to exploring the issue had already has now voted to send the idea to the RNC executive committee, set to rule on it tomorrow in Dallas, where Republican officials are gathering for a state chairs' meeting.

Under the Republican model, the RNC would give its list to the new trust, which would add an overlay of data from market research and other sources, then give it back to the RNC for each cycle, in the meantime selling the data to groups like Crossroads or the American Action Network.

The movement toward adopting the proposal has provoked a furious response from some in the party ranks, who worry that it represents a further shift of power away from the party and toward well-compensated political consultants whose interests may not always align exactly with the RNC's.

“THIS IS A BAD IDEA! The national political parties power and influence continues to be diluted,” former North Dakota Committeeman Gary Emineth wrote in an email to other Republicans Saturday.

“The question begs - WHY? Financial? Who personally benefits? Don't the members of the RNC have a fiduciary responsibility to their states to stop this grab for power? If this asset is gone...what is left?” he asked, calling the file the party’s most valuable asset and writing that the RNC has used it as collateral in the past. “Who is behind this? Is this another insider grab for power? If so, who? Are their consultants and vendors on the inside working this angle? What's the rush?” he asked.

Another Republican familiar with the plans warned, "They are trying to poach the RNC’s most valuable asset and exploit the RNC at a time when it is trying to rebuild itself after the disaster of Michael Steele."

Another RNC figure, former chair candidate Saul Anuzis, said he supported the concept in a general sense. [Updated.] .

The Republican briefed on the deal suggested the technical benefits would outweigh the loss of control.

"It's a constant cycle of fresh information,” he said.

[Reported by Ken Vogel and Jonathan Martin]

CORRECTION: Emineth is not a member of the committee. Also there is a discussion tomorrow, but no scheduled vote.

4/27/11 10:07 AM EDT

A careful statement from the RNC's Reince Priebus, who sees both the traps and the opportunity for the GOP in Obama's indulgence of the freakshow:

As I’ve repeatedly stated, this issue is a distraction. Our economy is strained from out of control deficits, debt, and unsustainable entitlements. The President ought to spend his time getting serious about repairing our economy, working with Republicans and focusing on the long term sustainability of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Unfortunately his campaign politics and talk about birth certificates is distracting him from our number one priority – our economy.

4/12/11 4:51 PM EDT

The Republican National Committee's fundraising -- which lagged under former chair Michael Steele -- is up again in 2011, with the committee raising over $7 million in March alone. Under chairman Reince Priebus, the committee has raised $15.7 million and now has $3.2 million dollars in cash on hand. The committee had debt of $24 million in January, and that has now been reduced to $19.7 million.

"Priebus’ priority has been restoring relationships with major donors who had left the committee in past cycles to bring money in the door so we can be a partner to our Republican presidential nominee," said Kirsten Kukowski, a spokeswoman for the RNC.

The RNC is also doing relatively well among major donors, taking in $3.41 million in the first quarter of 2011 -- and boasting that that's more than in the first quarter of 2010 and 2009 combined, though that is a low bar.

3/21/11 10:22 PM EDT

The Republican National Committee is disputing a $2,500 charge related to a trip its ousted chairman Michael Steele took to Italy late last year to see the Washington, D.C., archbishop elevated to cardinal, POLITICO has learned.

The latest money-related flap comes as the RNC, now run by former Wisconsin GOP head Reince Priebus, is contending with the discovery of a host of questionable Steele-era contracts and commitments as officials try to cut down a $21 million pile of debt.

Asked about the Steele trip, an RNC spokesman pointed to the committee’s year-end financial filing with the FEC - which contains an American Express card charge of about $2,500 that’s listed as contested. “We’re disputing it,” the spokesman said.

But two sources with knowledge of the charge said it was from Steele’s trip to Italy in November, nearly three weeks after the elections, to see then-Archbishop Donald Wuerl, of the Archdiocese of Washington, get elevated to Cardinal.

3/17/11 2:45 PM EDT

New RNC chairman Reince Priebus - who's been faced with a string of financial carry-overs from predecessor Michael Steele, in the form of contracts and unpaid invoices -- is also staring down a hefty bank fee of $650,000 that's due immediately, committee officials confirmed for my colleague Maggie Haberman.

RNC officials insisted the fee itself wasn't a surprise, but acknowledged the amount was much higher than it has been in the past - and it comes at a time when the in-debt committee is looking to get its fiscal house in order.

"In the past, the fee had been absorbed through the provision of higher interest rates on higher account balances," an RNC spokesman said. "The combination of low interest rates and lower RNC account balances caused the larger than expected fee to the bank."

3/2/11 9:16 AM EDT

The RNC has launched a fundraising and message push around Obama's ties to "union bosses," the issue of the moment, though it remains unclear if Scott Walker's actually winning the politics of his confrontation.

2/9/11 10:16 AM EDT

They rented an exclusive waterfront mansion, wined and dined at five-star restaurants and hired family members and friends, all on the taxpayers' dime.

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's 2012 convention team based in the Tampa Bay area raked up nearly $1 million in charges – using a line of credit backed by federal funding – before they were fired by the newly elected party chairman last month.

1/31/11 5:09 PM EDT

To date, the committee has approximately $23 million in debt: $15 million in loans, and $8 million owed to vendors.

Also, most of what Steele's donors contributed seems to have gone into...soliciting their donations:

The RNC did raise nearly $105 million in 2010 mainly through low-dollar solicitations online and in the mail, but the costs to raise it were simply too high at approximately 64 cents for every dollar raised. Even more troubling, our major donor programs are at 10-year lows.

1/19/11 5:35 PM EDT

New RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told donors on a conference call Wednesday that he would spend seventy percent of his time on party finances over the next two years in an effort to rebuild the debt-ridden committee.

Priebus told the contributors that he wanted to "bring your trust back" and show "that we're not throwing money down the drain, that we're not overpaying people , that we don't have too much staff," according to source on the call.

"I want be a chairman that understands that I need to be less (about) myself," he said in an unambiguous shot at his predecessor and former ally, Michael Steele.

Priebus compared the repair work to what Coke went through when they reverted back to Coke Classic from New Coke.

"This is Coca-Cola," he said, explaining that would attempt to reinvent the RNC brand.

A major component of that will be in the finance department. The committee is over $20 million in debt and many of its major donors either stopped giving with Steele at the helm or sent their checks to other GOP organizations.

Priebus said fundraising would account for "70 percent of what I need to do over the next two years."

Also on the call was Nick Ayers, the former RGA executive director who is running Priebus's transition at the RNC.

He recounted having spent the past cycle working with some "broken state committees" that were getting little help from the national party and said he wanted to rebuild a strong RNC so that "the other sister committees never have to bear that burden again."

The donors were told that there would be a plan unveiled for paying off the RNC's debt in the next month.